No anti-ISIS ops, says Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — An Iraqi government spokesman denied reports on Thursday that joint operations had resumed between local forces and the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State group sleeper cells.
The coalition, active in Iraq since 2014, said on 5 January that it was pausing anti-IS operations and training missions due to security concerns after a series of rocket attacks on bases where US and other international troops are located.
The New York Times, citing two American military officials, reported Thursday that the US — which makes up the bulk of the coalition — had resumed the operations.
But the Iraqi prime minister’s spokesman on military affairs told AFP the coalition did not have permission from Baghdad to carry out any joint missions.
“The joint operations have not resumed and we have not given our authorization,” said Abdulkarim Khalaf.
He said the Iraqi government had ordered the coalition to halt its joint operations following two US air strikes including one that killed a top Iranian commander.
The first, in late December, killed 25 Iraqi paramilitary fighters in the country’s west, in retaliation for the killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack.
The second was a US precision drone strike outside Baghdad airport on 3 January, which killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and leading Iraqi military official Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.